The West Chicago Garden Club

By Keith Letsche

Keith Letsche takes a break on his newly complete log-and-plank bench.

“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,” Robert Frost once wrote about winter. And not much else in a garden either, he could have added. And so, when Mother Nature finally let the West Chicago Garden Club crew into the Kruse House garden in mid-April after two successive weeks of snow and cold weather, the place had all of the marks of winter’s ravages—a litter of fallen branches, topple trellises, and, of course, the beginnings of a hearty crop of new weeds under last year’s debris.

The crew went to work immediately. Billie, Barb Darrah, and Jan spent the day cutting last year’s growth and pulling weeds. Keith reconstructed one of the log-and-plank benches that had rotted away. And Kerry removed all of the dirt from the rustic planter box next to the garage so that the rotted-out bottom boards could be replaced. All of the crew’s energies were focused on knocking the garden into basic shape early this year for the opening on May 12th of the city-wide Year of the Butterfly celebration, for which the Kruse House Garden is one of the sites where artist-designed butterflies will be displayed. .

Mark Luther, Dick Darrah, and Kerry Perry putting up stakes for artists’ butterflies to be displayed in the Kruse House Garden for the Year of the Butterfly celebration.

On April 29th a crew of Mark Luther, Dick Darrah, and Kerry Perry began putting up the stakes for the butterfly exhibit. With one more work day and warmer weather, the garden will finally be ready for the butterflies–both the natural kind and the artist-created ones.  Come out to the garden and enjoy both!

Photos taken at Kruse Garden by Billie Childress

By Tom Fessler

Well it’s Spring Time in Illinois again, yesterday was in the mid 70’s and today there is a trace of snow or sleet in the air. Things at the Kruse House are getting off to a great start, with the annual Spring clean-up. I stopped at the house on clean up day, the crew were at lunch but I could see the work they were doing. It is amazing how much debris piles up here during the Winter months. And not just leaves and sticks. There is a lot of paper, cans, bottles, plastic and for whatever reason a lot of apparently loosing lottery tickets. It seems like people from miles around come to the Kruse just to throw their old lottery tickets away.

I think this was a bad Winter for the trees in this area. As I walked around my own house as well as the Kruse House I saw large amounts of small and medium size sticks and branches. In my yard alone I picked up almost a yard bag and a half of them.

The next time you drive by the Kruse House you will notice it has a different look. One of the large tree in the very front has been removed. I am not sure why it was removed. Now that the tree is gone, along with the shade it provided, the plants placed there may have to be moved as now they are in direct sunlight. It’s kind of amazing how we don’t pay attention to trees until they are gone.

If you get a chance to stop by the Kruse House you will notice that there are many plants already up and some are even blooming. So have a great Spring.

Photos taken at Kruse Garden by Kerry Perry

By Barbara Darrah

I looked out the window this morning and saw an exquisite winter landscape.  There was a new skim of snow over the old which reflected a bright blue sun filled  sky .   It is early in March and the latest polar vortex has our temperatures plunging and I am thinking of spring.  Why?  Because I know that under that dead -looking  landscape,  life is stirring.  Microorganisms  are busily enriching the soil.  Roots  are writhing and bulbs and corms are sleepily starting to move.

Also, I was at last week’s garden club meeting and felt the fervor starting to build in me to get out there, begin planting and enjoy the “Simple Pleasures”  of the garden.

This is the time when I ‘m grateful that I live in the Midwest.  I have had time to rest and regenerate my gardening genes (and jeans) and am itching to get started.

Dick and I visit other gardens during the summer and get ideas for “next year” but we often forget over the winter.  Nina Koziol’s  pictures reminded us of the glorious  Cocoa Bean  plants we saw at Cantigny .  We also discussed putting some blue flowers over by the bee hive.   We are thinking about more Japanese Forest Grass – much more.  Out come the seed catalogues and here go our imaginations again.

Finally, I am going to make more efforts to stop weeding, sit back and enjoy  the view – not only in our own garden but at Kruse House as well.  We have convenient  benches there and you might enjoy stopping in as well,  especially this summer  when the butterfly art appears.  Ours is almost done and we have had lots of fun planning and putting it  together .  I read that butterflies might have originally been called flutter-bys and over time the initial letters  were reversed.  I love the image of them fluttering by.

With this image in mind,  I hope that by the time you read this,  I can truthfully wish all of  you a Happy Spring.